American Idol

NONE62661

Pulling for Brooke, too, and probably for the wrong reason --- because others are better singers.......

My reason -- she is so nice and it would be good to see someone like her win for once --- (I know Carrie Underwood is nice ) but there is something special about Brooke!

Just my 2 cents worth!

Joan (snf)

Madison

I think if we had an opportunity to see every episode of American Idol again and again and again, we would find mistakes that have been made by each and every contestant. The fact that Brooke stopped and started over does not offend me in the least. I know I remember doing the same thing at Piano Competition. Superior ratings still came my way. I don't get upset over "being human". These individuals are not professionals........they aspire to be professionals....but have not achieved that status.

 

I have always respected the fact that each and every individual has a right to enjoy the music they prefer.  I love music. 

 

I have purchased ITUNE songs by almost every one of the contestants. I appreciate their talents, whether their genre is appealing to me or not, and I want to show support for the years they have spent trying to "get a break" in the business.

 

I hope that the dreams of these contestants do come true, if not by being the American Idol, then by getting recording contracts or theatrical contracts. 

Good Luck to all the contestants.

SLH

Whoops, that reviewer made me laugh!  It must be hard to be that critical and always look for the flaws. You know, cup-half-empty syndrome.

Looking at the cup-half-full, this year could be a real surprise.  All of them can sing, but it takes more than that.  Look at Brittany Spears.  She's not the best singer, but she has a charisma that draws an audience.  When my kids watch AI, they are drawn to Jason, even though he isn't the best singer.  In fact, Carly who had great vocals, didn't have it.  She had made a CD already that bombed, and cost the producers multi-$$$.  They were probably glad that she was booted off.

I think that Brooke has a very nice voice, an easy-listening tone.  The judges compare her tone and style to Carly Simon and Carole King, which is a fair comparison.  BUT, those two women got where they are by writing their own INCREDIBLY GREAT songs.  Any of these contestants could go far if they could write an album like Tapestry.

sally 

Anonymous

These AI's are reprimanded at least once a week for "being chosen because they have 'star quality'" and are told they are not living up to their expectations.  Simon even said he expects "the performance of a lifetime" last night. 

I remember flubbing many a time at my own competitions, too.  I learned early on that is a HUGE no-no if you are a performer.  It doesn't matter if you are an amateur or a seasoned pro.  I've been on CD recordings before.  They certainly did a lot of takes to catch the perfection, and it was not easy.  I, however, am not an aspiring pop star.  I have the option to do several takes.  They don't. 

Does Andrew Lloyd Weber stop and start again?  I bet he doesn't. 

 Being a former band and choir teacher, I certainly appreciate every genre of music-I had to!  It was my job! 

I totally agree with what Sally said.  You have to have that stage presence.  Otherwise, it just doesn't sell. 

Like I said, I'd totally listen to Brooke while doing chores around the house.  I can sing right alongside her.  I've been a Brooke supporter for a while (usually in the minority until lately!).  

Oh, this is getting stressful.  I can't take it any more! 

bluesky

how boring was the niel diamond performance, i loved natasha.

it was past due for brooke, however sad to see her cry so much and unable to sing, she is not strong enough to be a performer with all the start and stops and cracking voice.

i thought it would be jason, i'm sure he is next.

Madison

I saw Brooke White's interview on Fox News this morning.  Carly Simon called during the interview and gave Brooke some wonderful words of encouragement.   Brooke's album has now been released (during the competition no contestants could sell the albums they had already released).  I have always loved Carly Simon's works (and Joan Baez-Diamonds & Rust).   

Of course, you can throw in country, classical,  50's, 60's, 70's musicals, etc. in my collection.  There is a song/musician for every mood.  Sometimes I want to go Boot-Scootin' and other times I want to hear George Winston.

I will definitely buy all of Brooke White's albums.  She is a singer/songwriter.

Good luck to all the remaining contestants.

Let's rock and roll next week!!

Bren-2007

Geez,

I watched Criminal Minds this week instead of AI, until the very end to see who got the boot.  I did catch the blonde gal singing the sunshine song.  I loved that.

Who's the mentor for next week?  Please, please tell me Jason is going back to TX soon.  I love David Cook.

Madison ... we're going to be looking for some boot-skootin' lessons at Pinkstock!!!

KLynn

Ohhhhhh        I just watched a clip of the elimination last night..How sad to see her so broken up about going home..I really felt for her, it didn't seem like an act or anything. It really seemed heartfelt. I really hopes she continues in the business. I will definately buy her next cd and give her alittle support to get started...

    Okay on to next week..Loosing interest. I think its because of  the mentors this year..I agree why don't they just let the kids pick their own songs and style at this point. They are who they are and why should they have to sing country or rap of whatever  is not their style..When they leave Idol they are not going to sing every style out there. i get it for the majority of the weeks , to see how deverse they are, and for the elimination process, but not once they have gotten down to the top 5..Lets hope the next shows are more entertaining..Then again there is always Paula for the entertaining aspect LOL... Take care KLynn

Madison

We purchased Brooke White's album, The Attic, from ITunes.



IT IS FANTASTIC. I love the album



She wrote all but two songs on this album.



I especially liked Change and Keep Running



If you can, pop into ITUNES and listen to a clip of her songs.



Well...........onto Tuesday.....rock and roll night

KLynn

Thanks Madison I'm going to have my hubby download those songs from ITune for me...I wouldn't have a clue how to do it.LOL  Until Tues night ..KLynn

KLynn

Well after tonights show I have to agree with Simon "Time for Jason to pack his suitcase" At this point in the show you really need to remember your lines...Even if the judges are making you nervous and pre-judging you (babbling brainless Paula). I loved his two songs, Somewhere over the Rainbow and Hallelujah,(previous weeks)  they both gave me goosebumps, but I think its time for him to go home..Again I wasn't overly impressed this week, with song choices or performances...Whatever happened to the blow  you away performances????? Well tomorrow should be interesting, to see is all the teen girls keep Jason in or not.. Take care friends.KLynn

lag

Rock on lil David!!!!!

Anonymous

Jason was so bad tonight-he's got to go!!! I thought the other 3 were amazing.

livesstrong

Well another crappy show - I'm with you Karen - losing interest big time.

Poor Jason - he was really bad- it was almost like he WANTS to be kicked off!!! To me, it really seems like he has this attitude like "Oh Well, no big deal." 

Can't wait for it to be over - would stop watching but I've come this far.........

I'm looking forward to "So you think you can dance" - I love watching those kids!

Valerie 

Believer0711

Jason is so ready to go. Shoot, I'll help him pack his bags too :-> I can't believe he forgot the lyrics.

Welp, David A stole the show tonight, and Syesha did well too.

David Cook, he's probably next to go.

SLH

If Jason's groupies vote him through and Syesha gets voted off, it will be a big injustice.  I think Syesha sang great and looked gorgeous.  Jason didn't seem to care.  David & David both did well.

(My 40+ yr old suburban housewife neighbor says she'd do David C anytime, anywhere, but she doesn't vote! So David A will probably win AI because his followers are not only lusting, they're voting!)

MargaretB

I agree, Jason needs to go.  I think Syesha sang well but her second song wasn't what I expected for rock and roll.  Both Davids were good - I missed David A's second song (hubby was channel surfing) but saw the judges review so gather it was good.

bluesky

i agree it has to be jason who goes. i know everyone loves david a, but i cannot take him another minute, he reminds me of a wayne newton elf, all of his songs sound the same. i really hope david cooke wins he is the best one. the show has gone downhill i don't think i'll be watching next season.

dawnjs5k

Actually, they posted a chart on yahoo a couple of weeks ago.  It gave the country and how many votes were coming from each state for each contestant.  David A. was way down on the list.  I would say from the looks of the picture, he was usually just above the bottom ones.  David C. had a huge following and that was followed by Jason.  I know that when I vote, I vote for David C. and sometimes Jason.  That vote is usually for my daughter.  She just loves him.  I could not bring myself to vote for him last night.  I know she will be disappointed, but he did so poorly last night.  My favorite is still Cook and has been from the beginning.  I cannot stand Archuleta. 

Dawn

sahalie

I thought Syesha was amazing last night.

She works so hard to give the best performance she can and I am happy for her that she has made it to the top four.

David Cook is wonderful and I never tire of listening to what he brings to the stage.

David A. has a great career a head of him if his family stays out of the way. 

I agree with Dawn in that he does sound the same with each performance but he sure has great lungs and range.

Jason, Doe eyed Jason. 

He has a wonderful gentle song in his heart and there are his following who will be with him all the way.

spar2

I love David A, he can sing anything. I think Jason will have a following, he sounds like good ole folk music to me.  Syesha was good last night but still feel like she may be voted out tonight.  David C rocked as usual

Anonymous

Jason absoultely stunk up the stage last night. If he stays and Syesha goes home, I'm done watching, as he should have been gone weeks ago - definitely before Carly or Brooke...

My son voted for Syesha about 20 times last night via text... 

SLH

Here's Lisa de Moraes' column:

Posted at 7:47 AM ET, 05/ 7/2008

"American Idol": The Unfab Four

Rock-and-roll night on "American Idol" should be a slam-dunk for this year's token rocker, David Cook, right?

He starts off Round 1 of this week's competition with Duran Duran's "Hungry Like a Wolf" because, he notes, it came out the year he was born.

He promises to add David Cookian twists to the song but if he has, they're well hidden. Judge Randy Jackson calls it just "a'ight" while judge Paula Abdul begins to ramble about his hunger being her big appetite, which raises the "American Idol" Decency Police Alert Level to Orange. Paula also tries to explain to the Former Coroner Munchkin how his appetite and her hunger enable her to endure being the only girl in the boys' club, but he's too busy doing his slow eye blink for the Mosh Pit Sorority Sisters who are weeping and wailing about their love for him, to listen. Judge Simon Cowell calls David C.'s version a "little bit copycat," which is like calling Paula a little bit crazy last week when she critiqued Jason Castro's first and second performances after he'd sung only one tune.

"Paula's got the appetite tonight!" show host Ryan Seacrest smirks.

Syesha Mercado wastes no time getting all I'm Syesha Mercado! on us, telling Seacrest she's sooooo excited to be going on the "American Idol" Tour because it's all about "being able to meet all my fans!"

She sings "Proud Mary," though it's a trademark Tina Turner tune and has been covered by about 100 others, because she talked to herself in her mirror and told herself to "Just Do It." She then tries to do Beyonce doing Tina Turner doing "Proud Mary." We've seen Beyonce doing Tina Turner doing "Proud Mary" at the Kennedy Center, Syesha, and you are no Beyonce doing Tina Turner doing "Proud Mary."

Even so, she's got Randy fooled; he says she "showed up." Paula begins to babble about facing the fear is when magic happens. Simon, the only judge worth listening to, calls it a "bad impersonation of Tina Turner."

And, just when we thought we'd be Nanny Brooke-free for the rest of our lives, Syesha goes all Nanny Brooke on us and starts talking over Simon, telling him patronizingly that his criticism of her "is okay."

"I was trying to have fun," she explains to him.

"Good. I didn't," Simon snaps back.

Randy says Simon got it wrong because Simon's from England but he, Randy, is from Louisiana. Syesha tells Seacrest she's trying to show viewers she wants to have fun. "I think your hips got very comfortable this week," Seacrest responds, in re her bump-and-grind-lite performance.

Jason, who, after a promising start -- that's my story and I'm sticking to it -- has devolved into this year's Sanjaya Malakar, wants us to know he only recognized a few of the hundreds of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tunes from which he had to chose. Of those, he's picked Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" because, he says, he's never performed it before. If there's a god in Heaven, Jason will never perform it again. And should he, by some miracle, get crowned this year's Idol he will never ever be allowed to record it. If iTunes is smart, it will strike this one from its "American Idol" offerings. Even Jason's family looks subdued after his performance.

How bad was it? Randy calls it Karaoke Bob. Paula says she's never seen Jason perform more for the audience and that he's so real and so genuine his "artistry shines through."

"Stand back!" warns Simon, before calling Jason's performance "utterly atrocious" and "American Idol" Bad Auditions Episodes bad.

"I don't know what you were thinking!" Simon says, summing things up neatly.

"I was thinking Bob Marley -- yeah!" Jason explains helpfully/cluelessly.

"It almost feels like Randy and you, Simon, are ticked off," notes Seacrest, Master of Understatement. Simon, now on a tear, insists the only good thing about Jason's singing was his hair -- our favorite "Idol" putdown ever.

David Archuleta, the Artist Formerly Known as This Year's Winner, picks "Stand by Me" because, he says, he's only sung it to himself and his dog, to date. After weeks of robotic performances, it's Baby Elmo's first sign of life, and Randaula loves it. Simon notes Baby Elmo could have whistled the tune and sounded better than Jason, but instead went further and delivered the night's best performance so far.

In Round 2, David C. sings "Baba O'Riley" by the Who. He's much better than in Round 1, though he's no Baby Elmo. Randmon says this is the David C. they love. David begins doing the slow-motion eye-blink thing he does when simpering, as Paula starts shouting, "I just want more!" and how "humbled" she is to "watch your soul" while the "American Idol" Decency Police ready their hypodermic needles.

Rascal Flatts is sitting in the audience, dangerously close to Baby Elmo's Scary Stage Dad.

I'm Syesha Mercado! says she chose "A Change Is Gonna Come" for her second song because it was about the civil rights movement but is now, for her, an anthem to her own journey on "Idol." She's weak in parts but fine elsewhere in the song, and besides, she's dresses as one of the minor goddesses in Greek mythology in a gown that perfectly frames her ample shoes. Randy does not love it, but Paula gives her a standing ovation and gushes, "Welcome to Your Dream!" causing Syesha to start bawling and blathering about her journey on "Idol," which, we all know, has included many turns on the Stools of Loserdom. Simon, mysteriously, agrees with Paula and points out Randy got it all wrong in re Syesha. Seacrest thanks Randy "for the buzz kill" and what follows is loads of cross talk among the judges, which gets shut down only when Seacrest shouts, "We're running out of time! 'Hell's Kitchen' is going to start!"

Jason's back, threatening us with "another Bob." But, mercifully, he does not mean another Marley tune, he means Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man." He forgets a goodish chunk of the lyrics but does not, like Nanny Brooke, stop the song, blush prettily and tell the house band to take it from the top. No, he plays ahead and improvises lyrics that go "um, um, um, um, um, umpity um."

Randy, having run out of thoughts of his own, asks Jason how he thought he did. Jason laughs and says he forgot some of the lyrics. Randy finally thinks of something to say -- that Jason is "not in the zone" -- duh. Paula tells Jason that while he did not blow us away, he blew her away. The AIDP get out their butterfly net.

"I'd pack your suitcase," Simon advises Jason.

And, finally, Baby Elmo pulls out all the stops and sings "Love Me Tender," which he says is his very first love song, while the "American Idol" Camera locks in on a close-up of his face and hangs on for dear life. Randy praises him for caressing every word. Paula says she felt his heart. "You didn't beat the competition -- you crushed the competition," Simon raves.

Has Baby Elmo reassumed the "Idol" crown? Seacrest turns to the camera and reminds viewers this is the week Chris Daughtry went home on an earlier edition of "Idol" because we thought he was safe and did not phone in enough votes.

After which Daughtry went on to launch his hugely successful career while that year's winner has flamed out -- which Seacrest neglects to mention.

Anonymous

I haven't watched the show yet, but I gotta say, I LOVE her.  She is hilarious. 

She calls David C. the coroner munchkin because that is what his old "audition" hair looked like.  Perfect connection! 

lag

I think "Baby Elmo" has got it all wrapped up; David Cook is good -don't get me wrong there but since he is already good is there really anywhere else for him to go? Lil David is beyond his years and is only 17-there is nowhere but UP for him-he's got what it takes!!! As for Syesha, well she's been in the bottom three a few times already compared to the other 3. And as for Jason "bob" Castro--he heas just got to go....he has not seemed like he has wanted to be there at all for the past many weeks so let him go!!!

If I have made some people upset by my opinion-Im sorry and I apologize!!

                                    but........

I know that there are a few that agree-right?????

artsee

Good-bye ' Jason Dreadlocks'. It's high time to hit the road!!! Let's hope the teeny bopper fans won't get the monopoly on the phone calls this time.

It's a toss up for me with the 2 Davids.

my3girls

David Cook...David Cook....David Cook....most definately my fav!

SLH

Jason is out now, which was the right choice.  But I have to say, I admire him for being able to keep his same open, honest, undeterred personality in the face of so much pressure, public recognition and stress.

He walked off still thinking the world is a pretty cool place! 

MargaretB

SLH, I have to tell you, I love those reviews.  They are pretty hilarious.  I foresee the top 3 having very good careers - I like both Davids.  Syesha will go to Broadway and David A and C will release albums right from the starting gate.  David A has lots of time to grow up, and I think he needs to.  I think Jason gave up on himself - he hasn't seemed to want to win as much in the last several weeks.  I need to see Paula's doctor about those drugs she's taking, it might make me more tolerable towards others.

NaughtybyNature

Okay, it has been a while...

Castro... he had to go but he still puts a huge smile on my face; he makes me feel happy inside and out!

Mercado: this girl is fighting w/ all she has but... I still think she w/ be better as the next Haley Berry...

Cook: OMG... just freaking put a CD out already okay?!?!

Archuleta: was very good this past week but... I lost interest in him...

Finale: Cook v. Archuleta... Winner (b/c of his age... guess who... LOL)